In general, conventional lighting control systems to control lighting devices, such as street lights, are designed to sense an illuminance around a lighting device using an illuminance sensor (not shown), and thereafter to control the lighting device according to the sensed illuminance.
The illuminance sensor, however, may fail to accurately sense an illuminance around the lighting device if a light receiving area thereof is reduced or covered by foreign materials, such as fallen leaves, bird guano, dust, etc. This may cause a lighting device, such as a street light, to malfunction, by, for example, turning on before sunset and failing to turn off after sunrise, thereby shortening lifespan and unnecessarily consuming power. In addition, removal of foreign materials from the illuminance sensor may require frequent cleaning of the illuminance sensor, which may increase maintenance/repair costs of the lighting device.